Unfinished Buisness
by lauren2381
Summary: Halfway through one particularly boring document the door opened, bringing in a slew of sand and cool night air. And Jason Hayes. "You're up early," she said, eyes never leaving the page. "And you're up late," Jason retorted. "Yes, I can't sleep and no I don't want to talk about it."


Late in the cool evening, Mandy glanced at the clock on the wall, rubbing her temples. Well one of the clocks, there were several that boasted different times throughout the globe. No matter which one she looked at, it was late. So late that it was early.

And yet, even after hours of staring at the intel, she couldn't put the pieces together. Her boys were depending on her to put together this target package so that they could go home. The longer that Mandy stared at the framework of papers around her the more she wished that it would suddenly appear to her. None of the pieces fit together. Shoddy intel in Jalalabad wasn't going to cut it, their lives depended on whether or not she did her job correctly. Their coffins would not rest on her conscience.

Reorganizing her papers, Mandy opened a fresh pen and rubbed her eyes, ready to start at the beginning. Abdul Firash wouldn't escape this time, not if she could help it. The man responsible for the death of twenty of her fellow brothers would pay for his crimes. Mandy needed to find him. Tacking a picture to the corkboard, Mandy jumped when the tent door opened. There was no reason that anyone would be coming into TOC at this time, but yet, someone had decided to intrude. _Just. Great. _

Mandy took a deep breath and closed her eyes before turning to the door, ready to berate the person for interrupting her intel session, but the breath stuttered in her chest. Jason, the great and mighty Bravo One, was standing in front of her in pajamas and rumpled hair, five o'clock shadow starting to appear on his jaw. "Jason?"

Tossing and turning in his cot, Jason ran his fingers through his hair. The boys were all asleep around him, Ray flat on his back, mouth open gently. Sonny snoring like a freight train. Trent muttering in his sleep. Brock curled around Cerberus. And Clay on his side, hands below his chin. They all slept soundly, yet still he was awake, alone with his thoughts. Something was bothering him. The kids were fine, he had talked to Emma and Mikey last night. His brothers were fine, they had made it out of the house before the blast could go off, not even a scratch on the kid.

But the fact that there was a blast in the first place was weighing heavily on him. They trusted their intelligence officers implicitly, their lives depended on them getting the right answers. Today they failed them, and yes, it was fine. But the next one might not be.

The scene played over and over in his mind, and Jason thought about all of the things that could have gone wrong. Ray could have been one second too late in identifying the bomb. Trent could have tripped the wire and blown the place to smithereens. Clay could have been just a hair too slow getting out the door. There were entirely too many 'could haves' for his liking.

And that was the heart of the issue. Clay was the last one out of the door and for a split second on his face, Jason saw pure unadulterated terror. Being a tier one operator came with an admittance that one day you might not come home. They all knew it was a possibility, hell maybe even a probability at some points, but that didn't mean that you were ever ready to face that certainty. Clay wasn't ready to face that, and Jason wasn't ready to have to explain to Emma why her boyfriend was coming back in a box.

Having the kid and Emma involved was a wonderful thing. Emma was happy with him, he treated her right. Clay was a better operator because of Emma; she grounded him, gave him drive to come back home. Jason was happy for them. Truly, he was. But their relationship brought about a lot of different complications that he never could have imagined and needed to be worked through. Where was the line that separated business and family? Was Emma now his ICE? Did he need to worry about Emma getting a notification and thinking that it's him that's coming home in box? Did Alana ever talk to Emma about what being a Navy wife was like?

Jason stared at the ceiling and counted the breaths of this brothers before he had had enough. Sleep was being a tricky bastard tonight and he didn't think it would come to him tonight. Throwing the covers off of his bunk, Jason stalked out of the tent. The clear night sky was illuminated with thousands of twinkling stars, but they brought no comfort to Jason. If he wasn't able to protect his family then what was the point of him operating? Scowling as he paced back and forth, Jason shivered in the chill as he turned towards the OPs tent. If he wasn't going to be getting any sleep at the very least, he could be productive.

He had to do _something_.

As Jason flung the door open, it struck him that the light was on because someone was probably working through the night, sifting through piles of intel for one actionable piece that would lead them to their target package. He just didn't expect it to be Mandy

While Mandy sorted through the transcripts of chatter from an offshore account, her eyelids began to droop. Halfway through one particularly boring document the door opened, bringing in a slew of sand and cool night air. And Jason Hayes. "You're up early," she said, eyes never leaving the page.

"And you're up late," Jason retorted. "Yes, I can't sleep and no I don't want to talk about it." An uneasy silence fell over the pair as they both pretended to work to ignore one another. Mandy didn't particularly care that Jason was hovering over her shoulder, but if he was up, he might as well do something useful.

"Then we won't talk about it," Many replied calmly. Jason wasn't one to be spooked out of his thoughts, it took time and an abundance of patience to even crack the surface. Mandy was prepared to wait however long it took, not like she was going anywhere any time soon. Jotting down a phrase on a post it, Mandy snuck a peak at Jason standing at the other end of the room. He was staring at the face of Abdul Firash pinned next to the ISR image of the blast, shoulders tense and hands clenched by his side.

She could wait for him to come around, it would be fine. By her count, it wouldn't be long.

Turning back to her notes, Mandy flipped back to a previous page. The phrase that they utilized was repeated several times, but there was seemingly no connection. Deep in thought, she was startled by the sound of Jason's raspy voice from across the room. Sometimes he was so quiet that Mandy forgot he was in the room, his presence only noticeable when it was gone, leaving her feeling vulnerable, afraid. "What are you working on?"

"Chatter from the cell we're after, new reports came in about," Mandy had to glance up at the clock, having lost track of time, "four hours ago. Still trying to make sense of it." Jason didn't answer her, but Mandy could feel his gaze on the packets of files spread out around her on the makeshift desk. Absently, she chewed on the end of her pen, racking her brain for any other translation of the phrase before her. "If you're gonna keep me company, make yourself useful and help me look through the files."

"What am I looking for?" Jason said, sitting down heavily across from her. Intelligence wasn't his favorite part of the job, but if it would help him schwack the guy that nearly killed his brothers, he would read as many files as it took.

"Anything that doesn't seem right," Mandy murmured, attention focused on the file in front of her. Jason knew what she meant, there was no further clarification necessary. They would figure this out.

As he sat down across from Mandy, Jason took the opportunity to look at her in a way that he couldn't when the sun was high over the horizon. In the quiet of the Afghan night, Jason looked at the hair that was normally perfectly pressed thrown into the messiest ponytail that he had ever seen. Strands had escaped and were framing her thin face, and every so often she would blow a piece off of her forehead, never breaking her concentration. Every few seconds she would write another note, yawn, rub her eyes, and go back to reading the same page over and over again. By the fifth yawn, Jason got to his feet, staggering over to the ancient coffee maker in the corner. It wasn't the best, but any caffeine was better than nothing.

They didn't typically stock much in the OPS center, coffee grounds, some sugar packets, maybe a little creamer if they were lucky that particular day. While the coffee was percolating, Jason snuck another look at Mandy and frowned darkly. She looked more worn down than usual. The job was stressful, and Jason couldn't imagine having to be on the other end of the table. At the very least he got to schwack the bad guys at the end of the day, Mandy didn't get that satisfaction. Snagging her mug from the top shelf, Jason emptied three sugar packets before pouring the strong brew, stirring it gently. Normally she took her coffee black with one creamer, but when stressed, she gravitated for more sugar. There were no caramel lattes in Jbad, but they did have sugar packets. And that's what she would get today. Now that her coffee was done, Jason grabbed a mug of his own before carrying them back to the table.

"Huh?" Mandy mumbled. When was coffee made?

"It's coffee, you looked like you could use some. Pass me the next file?"

The two worked in companionable silence, scribbling notes to one another and passing files across the table. Jason's lips quirked in a half smile when Mandy took her first sip, then another gulp. The warmth of the coffee was doing some good in perking her up, but the bags underneath her eyes told a different story. Jason was sure that these nights were all too frequent.

Mandy stood and paced back and forth in front of the corkboard, she was missing something and re-reading those action reports. As the wind blew in through the shoddy door, Mandy wrapped her arms tighter around herself. She would never get used to the different temperature extremes that fluctuated throughout Afghanistan.

Wrapped up in her thoughts, she didn't notice Jason coming up behind her, until his warm hand grazed her waist. "Here."

"Thanks, Jace." Shrugging into the sweatshirt, Mandy was comforted by the scent. It was transient, one that she didn't smell all the time. Whenever there was a faint trace on the breeze, Mandy was reminded of the strength that came with the protection of Bravo One. There was no danger under the protection of Jason Hayes.

Wait.

Protection.

That was it, Adbul Firash was being protected.

And she knew just who it was, the boys would be going out tomorrow night.

Happy with her discovery, Mandy sat back down at the table, smiling serenely. Moving onto the next stack of paperwork, Mandy closed her eyes. _I'm just going to rest, only one minute._ One minute stretched into two then three, and before she knew it, she drifted to sleep on top of her arms, surrounded by files.

Jason knew that she was going to fall asleep, the only questions were when and where. There were missions where Jason tried to convince himself that he was invincible, but the only two weaknesses that came for everyone were sleep and death. He had had good luck in evading death, but was still fighting the war against sleep. Watching as she made her breakthrough, Jason counted the minutes before she rested her head.

Four. She lasted four minutes before her head rested on her arms, and Jason couldn't blame her. Half of these reports were gibberish to him, but somehow Mandy always managed to find some shred of information that they could use to make the world a better place. He didn't know how she did it.

He listened to the soft snores coming from her slight body and Jason wavered back and forth. She clearly needed the sleep, but he couldn't leave her alone in the OPs tent. Wasn't exactly the safest place on base. The barracks were out as well, she wouldn't take well to waking up with a face full of Sonny Quinn's backside. He doubted that even he would be able to just walk out of a tent carrying an unconscious woman without raising a few eyebrows, Bravo One be damned.

"Mandy, Mandy, you can't stay here," Jason tried, thinking back to when Emma was small and fell asleep on the couch. Emma would always wake up if you reminded her that sleeping was meant to be done in a bed and not a couch.

No answer. She was really out for the count.

_Work the problem, _he thought to himself. If they couldn't leave the OPs center, they would have to make the OPs center work for them. The old couch in the corner wasn't the best option, but it would do for a few hours.

Plan in place, Jason set about to clean up the table. Action reports in one pile, organized by date. Chatter reports by language, then subdivided by cell group. Mandy was particular about how she organized her intel, and Jason had been on the receiving end of many a glare when the reports were jumbled, wasn't an experience he was looking to repeat.

The table was clear, the coffee mug was washed, and Mandy was still asleep slumped over on the table. There really wasn't a good way to maneuver Mandy out of the chair, but Jason reached under her arms and cradled her against his chest like he used to do for Emma, hoping that he hadn't lost his touch in moving sleeping individuals.

Depositing her on the couch, Jason wishes that there was a blanket that he could cover her with, but they couldn't be that lucky. Beggars can't be choosers and all that shit. _Now what _he thought to himself. He didn't know the first thing about any of the intel lying on the table and didn't want to mess up any sense of order that Mandy had managed to bring into existence. Jason sat down in the lumpy armchair next to the couch, the sun would be rising in a few hours. It would be a good time to work through some of his frustrations. He only wished that he was a hockey stick and a net, that would make for a perfect evening.

Well, he had all night. Hopefully he would be able to make sense of something before the sun came up again. Doubtful.

Tipping his head back, Jason let the hours pass, soothed by Mandy's gentle breaths from the couch. In the small cabin, there was only mission-related worries. He wasn't thinking about his kids or whether or not he needed to talk to Emma about notifications. This was simple. The who, what, when, where, and why were easily explained and well-defined. That must be the reason that he much preferred this space than the wide expanse of sky in Virginia.

This made sense and as long as it kept making sense, there was no reason to change. It just had to stay the same.

The next thing that Mandy knew she was lying down on the couch. Squinting in the early morning light, Mandy haf sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it?" she rasped, throat dry from hours of disuse.

"Early, sun just started to come up. Might want to make a break for it if you want any hot water."

Mandy sat up, fingers tangling in a loose thread off the cuff of the sweatshirt. "Jason?"

"Yeah Mandy," Jason said, not moving from his position in the armchair.

"Thanks"

"Don't mention it, you'd do the same"

The two sat in silence for a moment before Mandy heaved herself to her feet, shaking out her messy hair. Reaching for the hem of the sweatshirt, Mandy started to tug it off when Jason's hand brushed against her waist.

"Keep it, I'll bet you'll forget to bring your own tonight." Jason gripped her waist once, relishing the feel of her in his arms as she sagged against him. She worked too hard. Hell they all worked too hard.

If the bad guys don't rest, they don't either. It's the life they've chosen but maybe one day the life they'll leave. Hopefully it'll be their choice, but even if it's not, the next generation will come out of the woodwork and fight. They just needed to get through another day.

With one final nod, Mandy watched Jason leave for his morning workout, hearing the sounds of men joking with one another as the base came to life. The one shred of actionable intelligence that she had gleaned from the chatter was useful and would send her boys out tonight, but her work wasn't done. It wouldn't be done until she and Jason decided to hang up their hats.

Her work would never be done.

And she liked it that way, work kept the demons from creeping in too closely.

At least she could fight these bastards and she would win, Jason would make sure of that.


End file.
